5AF's Premier College Football Thread: 2017-18 Pittsburgh Super Panthers Football Thread (and Basketball)

[Silentom]

i walked to oakland from south side once

Did it once at 2 am in december while more or less drunk wearing a hoodie and jeans. These kids and their uber don't know how lucky they are

mine was probably 2am in September.. back to Webster Hall by the Cathedral. Warmer, but not a pleasant walk wearing flip flops. Actually, most of it was barefoot, which looking back wasn't the greatest of ideas

Was Kevin's Deli there, way back when?

[count2infinity]

Pitt leases a bunch of school buses to take the students to the game. You can also take a pat bus to downtown from oakland

So, @slappybrown, what would change if they played 25 miles from campus?

[willeyeam]

i walked to oakland from south side once

Did it once at 2 am in december while more or less drunk wearing a hoodie and jeans. These kids and their uber don't know how lucky they are

mine was probably 2am in September.. back to Webster Hall by the Cathedral. Warmer, but not a pleasant walk wearing flip flops. Actually, most of it was barefoot, which looking back wasn't the greatest of ideas

Was Kevin's Deli there, way back when?

I do not know the answer to that.. I didn't live there, just visiting a friend

[Silentom]

i walked to oakland from south side once

Did it once at 2 am in december while more or less drunk wearing a hoodie and jeans. These kids and their uber don't know how lucky they are

mine was probably 2am in September.. back to Webster Hall by the Cathedral. Warmer, but not a pleasant walk wearing flip flops. Actually, most of it was barefoot, which looking back wasn't the greatest of ideas

Was Kevin's Deli there, way back when?

I do not know the answer to that.. I didn't live there, just visiting a friend

Gotcha.

[willeyeam]

Pitt leases a bunch of school buses to take the students to the game. You can also take a pat bus to downtown from oakland

So, @slappybrown, what would change if they played 25 miles from campus?

I do not speak for slappy but I can assure you the amount of students getting on a bus Saturday morning to drive to Cranberry will be very small

[Silentom]

Pitt leases a bunch of school buses to take the students to the game. You can also take a pat bus to downtown from oakland

So, @slappybrown, what would change if they played 25 miles from campus?

That's 25 with no traffic. During rush hour, Pitt to Cranbizzle is more like an hour.

[count2infinity]

Pitt leases a bunch of school buses to take the students to the game. You can also take a pat bus to downtown from oakland

So, @slappybrown, what would change if they played 25 miles from campus?

I do not speak for slappy but I can assure you the amount of students getting on a bus Saturday morning to drive to Cranberry will be very small

I suppose my question is more of why? I understand the contention is that less people will go, but is it because there's nothing in Cranberry to do? A stadium will likely change that. Is it because the now 45-60 minute drive is too much compared to the 10-20 minute one now?

[willeyeam]

Pitt leases a bunch of school buses to take the students to the game. You can also take a pat bus to downtown from oakland

So, @slappybrown, what would change if they played 25 miles from campus?

I do not speak for slappy but I can assure you the amount of students getting on a bus Saturday morning to drive to Cranberry will be very small

because the now 45-60 minute drive is too much compared to the 10-20 minute one now?

yes

[Stoosh]

Still, when you consider what those places can offer versus what Pitt can just in terms of current gameday experiences, it makes that hill even tougher to climb. To land a potential program-changing QB from your own backyard, you're basically left selling the ideas of staying home, playing in front of family and friends and being the big piece in the elevation of something new here. For kids who are talented enough to merit visits to those other schools, that's probably not enough so you hope like hell that the kid has always kind of entertained the idea of playing at Pitt.

When it comes to recruiting, OK State has an uphill battle. TCU has an uphill battle. Baylor (when they aren't committing serious ethics violations) has an uphill battle. WVU has an outrageously tough uphill battle. Yet they get it done. Pitt fans (and the coaching staff itself) shouldn't cry in their beers about the unfairness in recruiting.

I hope my post didn't come off so much as crying about the obstacles as much as it was pointing them out and maybe voicing some frustrations over the ways they can work around it.

I do agree, though. In fact, when it comes to programs I'd love to see held up as models of what Pitt could become, TCU is in my top three. They've had coaching stability with Patterson. They have terrific facilities and a great on-campus stadium. They do benefit from playing in one of the two most fertile recruiting states in the country and that helps, but it also means they're going toe-to-toe with a lot of other programs for their recruits.

Good point about WVU, too. I honestly forget to mention them as an example, but Morgantown works well as a recruiting tool and they seem to have assimilated nicely into the Big 12.

I'll be very interested to see what Lyke & Gallagher do to address some of this after this year. If Narduzzi makes some staff changes for 2018, I hope he's given the resources he needs to really make some good hires. The gameday atmosphere hurts and I'm not sure how they address it. Winning games would obviously go a long way, so I'm hoping Pitt makes that same Year 4 leap that other similar programs have made under new coaches.

[slappybrown]

Pitt leases a bunch of school buses to take the students to the game. You can also take a pat bus to downtown from oakland

So, @slappybrown, what would change if they played 25 miles from campus?

You went to penn state. Game day on a college campus is amazing. Everything from A to Z, including the pure attendance numbers would improve from where it is now imo.

[count2infinity]

Pitt leases a bunch of school buses to take the students to the game. You can also take a pat bus to downtown from oakland

So, @slappybrown, what would change if they played 25 miles from campus?

You went to penn state. Game day on a college campus is amazing. Everything from A to Z, including the pure attendance numbers would improve from where it is now imo.

Absolutely. I agree that on campus is best case scenario. I was asking what would be the difference between the situation right now and if it was 25 miles away instead.

[Freddy Rumsen]

There is no question Pitt Stadium needed torn down.

Best case scenario for Pitt is that the government decides to build a new VA hospital and sells Pitt the site. There was a rumor when I was on campus 13 years ago that this might happen.

[shafnutz05]

That would be untenable, IMO. Part of the CFB experience is traveling to the university for games if you are not a student, and walking to the game as a student. A shuttle bus across the river is one thing, it's another to go 25 miles.

Just found this great website. Look at the tiny amount of schools that are more than maybe miles from the college.
Heinz is 3 miles, but as others have noted, that's a long 3 miles.

http://www.footballgeography.com/list-o ... he-campus/

[Freddy Rumsen]

Maybe women's basketball will be the ticket this year...

https://twitter.com/Pitt_WBB/status/920990252474478594

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yeah, you could see them play in about a half dozen schools within a two hour drive of where you are: Chapel Hill, NC State, Duke, Wake, Clemson. Women's tickets are easier to get, especially at those basketball schools.

[dodint]

What? The rowing team not interesting enough for you?

[Stoosh]

As a Pitt fan, subscribing to Panther Lair is both one of the best and one of the worst things I've ever done.

My god, the lunacy of some of the posts.

[skullman80]

As a Pitt fan, subscribing to Panther Lair is both one of the best and one of the worst things I've ever done.

My god, the lunacy of some of the posts.

Is the pay board worth the subscription? the general lunacy of the free board makes me wonder if the the pay board is any better.

[slappybrown]

As a Pitt fan, subscribing to Panther Lair is both one of the best and one of the worst things I've ever done.

My god, the lunacy of some of the posts.

The fact that "Fire Narduzzi right now" people exist, let alone in the apparent numbers they do based on that board, is astonishing. Its like an army of shads.

[Stoosh]

As a Pitt fan, subscribing to Panther Lair is both one of the best and one of the worst things I've ever done.

My god, the lunacy of some of the posts.

Is the pay board worth the subscription? the general lunacy of the free board makes me wonder if the the pay board is any better.

I've found that I have to sift through some crap, but I've found it to be worth the price so far. Not as many that seem stuck in the 1970s/1980s as I expected, but there is some garbage. I don't think the way this season has progressed has done anyone any favors there, though. I'll wait and see how it is through the close of the recruiting season.

[Stoosh]

As a Pitt fan, subscribing to Panther Lair is both one of the best and one of the worst things I've ever done.

My god, the lunacy of some of the posts.

The fact that "Fire Narduzzi right now" people exist, let alone in the apparent numbers they do based on that board, is astonishing. Its like an army of shads.

Yep, there is an amazing amount of this kind of stuff, and that's my one big issue with some of the posters there. He's left plenty of reason for valid criticism, but I don't think a lot of fans that post this stuff realize 1) Pitt isn't an incredibly attractive job and 2) any replacement they get is coming to come in with the same relative number of question marks about whether he's the right fit.

There are also a lot of people that really seem to dislike Heather Lyke.

[Freddy Rumsen]

Interesting comments here from Nard dog.

This points to the lack of leadership on the team.

For you as a coach, what’s been the most frustrating aspect of this season?
Narduzzi: The most frustrating thing, I mean, every day there’s something that frustrates you as a coach, whether it’s an off the field issue - guys going to class. You guys think it’s just football over here. I mean, I’m sick and tired of telling guys not to miss class. How about that?

From a football standpoint, what’s most frustrating?
Narduzzi: From a football standpoint - and again, it’s really 3-percent when I talk about the class thing. Our guys do a pretty good job but we’re on them and we have a lot of class checks because it’s important to get your degree and there’s a lot of money that’s involved in that.

Football-wise, I guess you can’t put your finger on one thing. I get spread out because I’m trying to help the defense over here and then all of a sudden the offense isn’t going, so I go spend time over there and then all of a sudden it’s something over here and you go back over here and I’m popping from room to room. I don’t have a room I can hang out in.

Last year, I could spend a lot of time in the defensive room; our offense was clicking and going. That’s probably the most frustrating, is I feel like I’m getting pulled. My wingspan is longer right now than it was at the beginning of the year.

https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/news/nard ... t-and-more

[slappybrown]

There are 10 seniors on the team IIRC

[columbia]

Get rid of your OC and you might be able to find a room.

[Dickie Dunn]

There are 10 seniors on the team IIRC

Sounds about right. Plus, right after spring ball you've got senior Jeremiah Taleni getting kicked off the team and then right before training camp senior Rori Blair is given the boot, senior Quentin Wirginis suspended for three games, and around long enough to know better Jordan Whitehead suspended for three games. Either through seniority or ability those are four assumed leaders of your team acting like a bunch of dumbasses. Team leadership has been a problem since before this season even started and it doesn't sound like anyone has manned up to fill the void left by Peterman, Conner, DJ, Biz, Soto, Jarrett, and Orndoff. Hopefully as this muddling season progresses toward its early end someone will step up and fill that role.